Set Up is Everything

If you are not set up correctly, then you cannot be expected to make good quality golf shots. The key ingredients to a good set up are:

1. Pre-Shot Routine: No matter what each player is used to doing before hitting the ball, they need to reinforce their particular routine before each shot to ensure consistency in their game.

2. Addressing the Ball: Once your target is established, you set the club face first and then your body parallel left to the target line. If you set your body first then the club face, you will get the lines crossed, meaning that your body will be pointed one direction and your club face another.

3. Posture: Good posture is one of the most overlooked aspects of the set up for club players. Tour players know that good posture is the foundation of their swing and work on maintaining the proper body position so that their golf shots will be consistent. Most club players will get too squatty with their knees and a good tip for avoiding this is to stand straight up and bend from your hips all the way down to the golf ball with your knees locked, and then break your knees slightly giving you the best arrangement of your body in relation to the golf ball.

4. Ball Position: Each club has its own particular arc and if the ball position is not set correctly to allow for that, then the arc of the club will bottom out resulting in inconsistent golf shots. There should be three different ball positions that correlate with your different clubs. When using your six iron through your wedge, your ball position should be directly lined up with the center of your stance. A good visual reference point for this would be the zipper of your pants. When using your three iron through your five iron, your ball position should be one ball width left of the zipper. When using your driver, fairway woods and hybrids, the ball position should be two ball widths left of your zipper. Most people play their driver too far forward in their stance and by making this slight adjustment they will develop much more consistency in their golf shots.

By developing these four components of your set up: 1. Pre-shot Routine, 2. Addressing the Ball, 3. Posture and 4. Ball Position, your golf game will become much more consistent resulting in better scores and overall enjoyment of the game. Remember Set up is Everything!

Mack Tucker Golf Professional at Lincoln Hills Golf Club, 1005 Sun City Lane, Lincoln,Ca. He can be reached at 615-417-7836 or email mackt@comcast.net.